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yellow squash

Simmered in olive oil with plenty of garlic, yellow summer squash and zucchini practically melt into a buttery sauce. Toss the vegetables with pasta and plenty of Parmesan, and dinner’s done in minutes.

Wild salmon tops the list of fish that are high in omega-3 and low in mercury. So swap out farmed
salmon, which contains food dyes, for the real thing. Frozen sides of wild salmon offer the best value.
Garlic scapes are the young, soft stems and unopened flower buds of hardneck garlic. This variety of
garlic tends to be prevalent at farmer's markets. The season for scapes is short, so if you can't find them you can substitute scallions or baby leeks.

These spiced-packed pickles are the perfect combination of tart and sweet, great for pre-dinner snacking or to top a sandwich. Yellow squash is delicious, but the brine also works well with cucumbers, zucchini, onions, or mushrooms.

We remember falling in love with a photograph of _petits farcis_ in an old issue of _Cuisine e Vins de France_ We're sure that most chefs of our age who dreamed of cooking professionally since childhood feel the same when they open a vintage copy of _Cuisine et Vins de France_, or of Georges Blanc's _De La Vigne à l'Assiette_. There is not greater food era than when Michel Guérard, Bernard Loiseau, Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Georges Blanc and Roger Vergé were at the top.
_Petits Farcis_ are vegetables stuffed with sausage mix, then baked and eaten lukewarm. We make them in the summer when the growers show up with pattypan squashes. What else are you supposed to do with those little squashes other than admire them? The stuffed vegetables are awesome with a mâche salad and partner perfectly with a nice rosé or pastis. Get the smallest vegetables you can find, about the size of a gold ball.

My friend and fellow food writer Angela Knipple cherishes memories of childhood visits to her Great-Uncle Curtis and Great-Aunt Marian's big farm. Perhaps her passion for food, cooking, and sustainable agriculture took root during her summer days in their enormous garden. She loved weeding and harvesting vegetables, and turning her fingers a fabulous shade of purple while picking purple-hull peas. Meals were major delights of homegrown, homecooked goodness, including this beautiful summer squash pie—deliciously creamy, sweet, and a little bit tart. You could use yellow squash instead of zucchini, or do a combination of the two.

What you have here—sun-gold bands of decoratively arranged vegetables and clear, immediate flavors enriched with Parmigiano-Reggiano—is an absolute stunner. And, because the torte must be made ahead and weighted (to release excess liquid), it's ideal for entertaining. Serve it with anything grilled (fish, chicken, or lamb, for instance) and your guests will be over the moon.

Under the weight of a second skillet, the "pressed" chicken releases its fat and juices into the pan and ends up cooking in all that sumptuousness. The result is almost unbelievably moist meat. Adding the quick-cooked vegetables and the spicy perfume of marjoram completes what is sure to become a go-to recipe in your dinner arsenal.

Resist the temptation to toss together all the squash with the oil, salt, and pepper. If you don't do it in batches, as noted below, the salt will draw out too much liquid from the squash waiting to be roasted, and the casserole will be soupy.